What do product owners do? Image credit and copy right. Jawwad Farid.

What do you do?

Unboxing the life of a product owner.

16 min readApr 12, 2024

The Fassbender Steve Jobs’ official trailer opens up with a question. Seth Rogen’s Woz asks Steve, “What do you do?”, as we roll through opening sequence of a product launch in Sorkin’s film.

While the historic authenticity of the dialogue is suspect, similar questions are posed by students when I run them through a course on Tech Product Development (TPD).

What do you do? What are we supposed to do? What do product managers do? How does this translate to real life? How do we use these frameworks? How do we know we have it right? Why is this so hard?

Maximizing product revenue is not the right answer.

No. Product owners do not live or aim for maximizing product revenues. It is a popular answer, especially here on medium. There is more to these roles than just revenues or optimization. And like Woz’s conversation with Steve, authenticity and accuracy of this answer is up for debate. There are instances when a simple answer is the best answer. I am sure this instance is not one of them.

3 decade earlier when I started my first product role, the seminal text book on the subject was written by the Dean of MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Glen Urban’s Design and Development of New Products was focused on the process of product development. It sat at cross roads of engineering, marketing, design and user experience. Before user experience became user experience and no product function existed outside of engineering. It was the first book I read on this subject and it shaped my thinking since then.

Glen’s work posed questions that crossed over subject boundaries and changed the trajectory of my professional life. It emphasized a data driven approach to process and engineering. My key takeaway? In the product world finding and posing the right questions is often the best possible starting point. Let’s start there.

One. What do I do?

I build and integrate enterprise solutions for financial services clients. Accounting backends, treasury risk, client and product profitability and reporting, ed-tech platforms, performance tracking, credit scoring and rating products, governance, regulatory reporting and compliance tools. In other roles I published 5 text books, produced 2 documentary shorts, helped launched 3 green field life insurance companies, sat on 4 boards and taught as a visiting professor for 27 years.

Surprisingly despite the differences in the four worlds I inhabited above, product roles were often quite similar. Similar in terms of frameworks and desired outcomes. You could punch out of one and checkout in another and no one would notice. Mostly because product roles existed at intersections. When you lived on the edge, everyone assumed you knew what you were doing, even when you didn’t.

Here is what I did in terms of work and the questions I asked and answered with that work.

Visualization and exploration. Why is this product needed? How would it work? Mostly vision work across stages of product discovery.
Segregating core vs non core functionality. Vision is important because we need it to answer the filtering question. Is this core functionality or not? If it is core, it ships. If it isn’t, it get deferred for consideration later.
Execution and structure. Put pieces together and glue them into workable, tangible forms. Post vision. Working prototype to version 1.0.
Championing the cause. Convincing key decision makers, sponsors and stakeholders that what we are doing is worth doing. Primarily selling the dream.
Scavenging resources. Making do and delivering with what we have. Calling in favors, doing first and seeking permission and authorization later.
Finetuning and tweaking. Evaluating the work product and improving it every cycle. Humility required to acknowledge that our original grand design was off the mark.
Culling and pruning. Killing your darlings. Learning to be heartless. There is no room for slackers or softies here.
Decisions and choices. Giving product shape, form, personality, profile, substance and color. Ultimately a product takes on the persona of product owners and their preferences. The product becomes who you are. If you are gracious, generous and graceful, it is too. If you are not, it is not.
Managing the process. Tracking progress. Setting expectations. Resolving exceptions. Extinguishing fires. Placating egos. Keeping pace.
Asking questions. That no one else is willing to ask. Making sure that they are the right questions. Continue asking questions when it is no longer acceptable to ask them.
Being the voice of the customer. Validation. Wearing customer hats and shoes to ensure their interests are protected and represented. Also validation. If I was the customer, would I use this product? How can I test that assumption as quickly and as early as possible?
Keeping everyone honest. Sometimes the questions we ask give answers no one wants to hear and acknowledge. Remembering building and delivering product is more of a honesty challenge than a popularity contest. Would you use this product? No. Would you buy this product? No. Do you like this product? No. Did you hear that? We can’t ignore that. We made a mistake. Our assumption was incorrect. Reset and go back to the starting point, again.
Finding financing, funding, runway and rope. Making sure we don’t give anyone the opportunity to hang us with the same rope. Learning the differences and fine lines between protecting sensibilities, restricting and timing information release, being careful, secretive, misrepresentation, outright lying, fraud and malicious intent.
Launch. Figuring out the path to early traction and validation. Launch is a process, not a one time event. Like all processes, it needs to be managed.
Shipping. Can’t launch without learning how to ship first. If the product function is messy, shipping is messier. Launch planning comes first, shipping comes later.
Fallout management. Cleaning up the mess and the dead when launch or shipping leads to a bloodbath rather than nirvana. Then getting back to the grind and starting over again, post clean up.

So no. Not really revenue optimization and maximization. When I am asked what do I do, my simple answer is, I ask and answer questions.

Two. What is a product supposed to do?

Before we answer what a product manager or product owner really does other than asking and answering questions, it would help if we took a step back and posed a different query. What is a product supposed to do?

Change customer lives is an admirable goal for products. For the purists amongst us, it is the only goal. For the more commercial minded, there are other earthly bound goals focused on revenues.

Change behavior is an acceptable compromise between the two poles.

The challenge though is how? How does our product change lives or behaviors? Or generate revenues? Which specific lives are we talking about here? Why do they need changing? Why would anyone splurge their hard earned cash on what we are selling, promoting or pitching?

a) Do all products change lives? Or b) Only some do?

The historically accurate answer is b). Even when products are created with the explicit goal of changing lives or behaviors, they rarely do. It is a hard ask. There is a world of effort and luck needed between saying we want to change lives and actually changing them.

Many are called, a few are chosen.

The ones that do, how are they different? Is the difference due to process, mindset or luck? If you fall short of changing lives, can you settle with a lower, lesser goal. Maybe help customers achieve their own goals. Or help them move forward on their own life arc? What is lowest common threshold a product can hit and still be considered worthy? Make customers happy? Like drinking coffee makes me happy. It doesn’t change my life, or help me move forward on my life arc other than increase my weight, but I still look forward to my daily cup.

Because sometimes when the planets are in alignment, it helps me write. I can live with that.

Products are not about selling or maximizing value but about connecting. Connecting with someone we have never met, may never meet.

Imagine that. How do we connect across distances, time, geographic boundaries, race, ethnicity and space. We connect because of a shared love for solving a common problem. We may both want to solve that problem with different motivations but the connection is rooted in a shared desire to find a solution. A shared desire to solve a shared challenge.

We may want to solve the problem because of curiosity, empathy or commercial considerations. For the customer though solving the problem leads to immediate, partial or complete, pain relief.

Different motivations, shared desire.

Everything else is secondary and flows from that shared desire. Given the importance of that desire, any time we spend on defining the boundaries that help us solve that problem is time well spent.

Pain has many sources. Needs, wants, aspirations, dreams, ambitions, hurdles, chains, locks, doors, baggage, jobs and tasks to be done. What is the source of that pain in our case? What do we need to unlock to release it?

Three. What do we solve for?

Think of this making connections bit as a game. Some games last a single round. Others take multiple steps and stages to complete. The most rewarding of games are complex multi-stage games.

When we deal with customers, we can’t win with a transactional mindset. A transactional mindset takes the short term view and evaluates each engagement as an isolated, individual win. We exchange value during each transaction, often on fair terms, with mutual consent. That doesn’t necessarily work well in multi-stage games.

Compare this to a relationship mindset. A relationship mindset is a game of give and take across multiple stages. It is played across rounds. Notice the s. The objective is to not maximize product value or product revenue in a single round but across sum of all rounds. We can do that by building trust and a mutually beneficial long term relationship. Frictional and transactional costs go down once trust is established. Information flows become simpler and transparent and help avoid supply or demand shocks leading to better, reliable and stable pricing. It is a win win for both sides.

Only if we agree to invest in a relationship. Someone has to for it to grow, prosper and mature.

Deeper connections are persistent connections. Persistent connections are more rewarding connections. Would you try a pain killer again if it didn’t work the first time? I won’t. Imagine the suffering if you had to search for a new one every time you needed one?

That is how the pros play it. A pro is a player who is not a one hit wonder. A player who lasts decades not just a few years in a given market or segment.
Survival, traction, relationship, trust. Are all important metrics if we are playing the long game.

Play the long game.

What do we solve for when we play the long game? We solve for pain relief and release for our customers. Persistent and permanent pain relief is preferred. Realistically, partially is also good enough. This comes first. We prioritize features and release schedules based on pain relief and release potential. Value capture and distribution between the builder, the maker, the user and the distributor comes later.

Connections. We solve for connections.

Four. Where do we start? Start at the end.

Matt Wallaert in his 2019 book, Start at the end introduces a powerful framework for product managers.

Ask a simple question. When the product has shipped and the customer has discovered and used our product, how does his or her life change?

Clearly for the better. What does that state look like? How come the customer isn’t already in that state? How does the customer get out of their current state and discover our product? What is stopping them now? What could help their discovery of the product? When they do discover it and use it what changes in their lives that leads to the desired state change?

When I pose this question in my workshops and classes, the responses I receive are thinly veiled product features and functionality descriptions.

When the customer drinks my blend of coffee, in my small hole in the wall coffee shop he is instantly inspired by the ambience, aroma, flavor, texture, body of the drink and starts to write instantly.

What is wrong with the description above? Who or what is it focused on? Do you see what I mean? Ambience, aroma, flavor, texture, body are product attributes of coffee as a product. But they don’t ask the right questions with respect to the customer. Also I don’t know about you but I have never been able to write instantly. No, you didn’t have me at hello. As soon as you said, instantly, I knew you were a fake.

How could you make it better? Ask a different set of questions.

Why does the customer needs to write? How does writing help him? Who is forcing him to write? What does he write about? What role does that play in his journey? Or his arc? What happens when he can’t write? What happens when he does write? How long does he have to write? What does he write with? What does he write on? Does he write sunk in a chair or with his back upright? Does he write on a paper or type on a laptop? What defines a successful writing session for him? What is considered an awful session? How does he measure the quality of his writing output? What does good writing look like? Is he already a good writer or does he aspires to be one? What is holding him back from becoming one?

How does he get to my coffee shop? Self discovery or referral? How did he get to coffee in the first place? Exploration or addiction? Newbie or connoisseur? How long has he been drinking coffee? Why would he want to drink coffee? Why not tea? Or a lemonade? Or a soda? What is the connection between writing and coffee? Does it matter where he drinks coffee? What does he want when he is drinking coffee? Would he prefer peace and quiet or the soothing bars of jazz in the background? How about coffee scented candles? Natural light or artificial? Tungsten (yellow) or white? Dark walls or reflective surfaces? Soft colors or bright?

Which one of the questions above are relevant? Which ones aren’t? In the beginning they all are. The desired end state is not the only state we focus on. Before and after are just as important for us to understand what is it that our customers seek. Because we seek what is sought by our customers.

To reinforce this, go back to an earlier question. What do products do?

Products help customers become / reach / perfect / achieve outcomes. Outcomes may validate / confirm / strengthen a customers identity, help them play a designated role, complete a job or trigger a desired behavior.
To build great products we have to not just understand our customers, but also their dreams, ambitions, aspirations and life arcs.

How did they get here? Where are they going? Where do they want to be? Who do they want to be? Why? How do we and our product help them do this and more?

Learn to ask the right questions. It is a valuable and under rated skillset.

Five. What do product owners do?

We help products do what they need to do.

What do products do? They help change lives and behavior. They help customer do what they need to do. They move customers forward in their life arc.

Products help customer reach or achieve a desired outcome on their life arc.

How do we do what we do? We do that by asking the right questions and then seeking answers to those questions.

It takes time to find the right questions. Or to find the right answers. Sometimes the right answers lead to the wrong doors. When that happens, we don’t give up, we persist, we stay honest, we start over again.

Beyond questions and answers, we find shape, function and form for the products we create. This is an iterative search challenge across dimensions. There is a repeat until loop that exits to a different code snippet when we find traction. That snippet is growth. Different goals, objective functions and code for different segments and stages in the game. Like all algorithms we pick and learn hacks, tools and quirks that help us find optimal solutions faster as our practice of the art improves.

The best of us put a piece of our heart into the work we produce. There is process and there is science but there is also art and soul. Product is engineering and manufacturing but it is also individuals and personalities. Our signature is the imprint we leave on the character of our products.

The answers above are simplistic answers. Like running a half marathon involves running. Or writing a book requires you to write. This is intentional. Reality has nuances, it is more complex. Because it is complex we need a different approach to define it.

Complex realities can be expressed with simple words and intent. That is the magic of words. Complex realities can also be harnessed and summarized through experiences. A product is a sum total of how it makes users feel. It is an experience. When that experience leads to customer delight, it is magical and we succeed. When it doesn’t, it isn’t and we don’t. That is design choices for you and the end state we seek.

One would think that books, films, insurance policies, technology products, digital courses and class room instruction couldn’t possibly be connected or have a common thread. But are and they do. The thread? Delightful experiences. For a customer that happens when he engages with a product that feels as if it was designed specifically for him.

It is not an illusion. Delight is never an accident. It is always engineered and designed.

What do I do as a product owner? I am a curator of choices. I bring meaning to my work by making my products and the experiences they represent, worthy of appreciation by my customers. Along the way I proactively solve problems and challenges, keep an eye out for frictions and irritations in the customer experience and ensure that the relationship we have built heads north, not south.

How do I do that? I start with love. Make products with love and care. When it comes to making choices, make choices you would make for yourself. That is as good a starting point as any.

I once asked a room filled with 150 life actuaries, how many of them owned or had purchased a life insurance policy. Two people raised their hand. One was me. The other was not an actuary. If you ever wondered why customers don’t buy life insurance policies, you have your answer.

Six. What’s love got to do with it?

Why do you have to build products that are worthy of love? What is wrong with building products that are unworthy? Why is it not okay to build products that are mediocre and so-so?

There are millions of products on the shelves of stores across the world. Not all are winners. Not all are outstanding. Some are outright offensive. Yet many make money for their owners, designers and manufacturers. Why bother?

It comes down to the practice of our craft and our self image. As a maker or builder do we view ourselves as craftsmen? While not necessarily artists, does the practice of our art, give us joy. If it does, so should the use of products that comes out of that practice. Outstanding products have a common theme. Pride of authorship, of design, of craft, of art. It doesn’t matter if we know who built a product. We sense that this was something that was made of and with love. Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams.

When you shoot a frame, cook a dish, write a book or a poem, cut a film, or code functionality for an interface, it is not for that creation to go out and succeed. It is about how much care you put in creating it. Steve Stockman, in How to Shoot Videos That Don’t Suck, mentions this when he describes the difference between intent and result.

We don’t control results. We control intent. Steve made the statement about films and documentaries, but I think it holds just as true for other products. We don’t control the result of what happens when we put our product out in the real world, but we certainly do control intent.

I don’t write for traffic or views or sales. I write because I enjoy the process of documenting what I learnt across my experiences for benefit of my students. I live for those moments of connections every year when an apprentice puts a puzzle together. That flash of insight when the world begins to make sense for the first time. The expression of awe when they see in themselves what I have been seeing from the moment they walk into my class. Of how much farther they are going to fly compared to the overweight grizzly bear who is their teacher.

When that happens, my craft gets upgraded from writing to sense making. Like making it to the boss level.

Beyond teaching and sense making what is my intent? All that I wrote, shot, shipped, made, built, crafted or produced is a reflection of my work and who I am. To thine own self be true. You can’t be honest with the world if you are not honest with yourself. Honest to the practice of my art and my craft. That statement has to be the strongest possible statement I can make. I don’t care about what happens later, how the world reacts. As long as my craft can speak for itself.

It isn’t about winning or losing. It isn’t about optimizing revenues or profits. It is about trying. About accounting for effort and commitment. It is about soul. Creation is a deeply personal act.

Make it so, or don’t bother.

Seven. Don’t be good. Be better.

Will Vaughn, an old friend from a different life, wrote about his mom when he read the obituary at her memorial. Will’s mom got it right all those years ago when she said to Will, “Don’t be good. Be better.”

Not just effort, then. Also improving practice of the art. How is the next piece you did, better than the previous one. Be honest with respect to intent, quality and practice and results follow. Maybe not the first few times but eventually pace and stride find you.

You won’t find them without trying, without commitment or sacrifice, without disappointment or heartbreak. There is no greatness without suffering. All great art originates from pain. Yes, you do have a choice. You don’t need to be an artist. Not everyone is meant for greatness. But if that was true you wouldn’t be here reading this piece till the very end.

I will leave you with this scene from Eddie the Eagle. Like the question posed by Woz to Steve, provenance is doubtful but it is beautiful writing.

Win and lose and all that stuff is for the little people. Men like us, we jump to be ourselves… If we do less than our best with the whole world watching, it will kill us inside.

Eddie the Eagle. The lift to the sky jump scene.

Excerpt from “Craft, the art of building products for the real world.” Jawwad Farid’s new and upcoming book on product development and design. Available May 2024. Pre-orders open at https://forms.gle/75AyLpwCqK9gL6YG7